Flickr, the photo publishing, sharing & tagging network, has just announced that they will be cancelling their older email address based login system, and migrating over to Yahoo registered ID’s for users to sign in to Flickr.
We’re making this change now to simplify the sign in process in advance of several large projects launching this year, but some Flickr features and tools already require Yahoo! IDs for sign in — like the mobile site at m.flickr.com or the new Yahoo! Go program for mobiles, available at http://go.yahoo.com.
If you still sign in using the email-based Flickr system (here), you can make the switch at any time in the next few months, from today till the 15th.
The switch to Yahoo registration has been a sensitive subject since Yahoo acquired Flickr, but for Yahoo to successfully integrate all of the social media offerings and members that they have ‘acquired’ with their del.icio.us, Flickr, MyBlogLog and Upcoming.org buys, and the upgrades Yahoo is making to each service, the switch to Yahoo ID’s for logging in seems inevitable.
This being said, because of the sensitivity and the loyalty of the Flickr community, Yahoo is being quite transparent with user feedback and critique.
Concerns are based around:
* If new Yahoo ID expires, will Flickr accounts and photos also be deleted?
* Most Flickr logins are unique usernames and all of the good Yahoo ID’s are taken.
* Why is Flickr forcing the transition over to Yahoo ID’s for all members. Shouldn’t there be a grandfather clause?
From the Flickr Forum : Official Old Skool Merge:
Warning! These are mostly negative!
I love Flickr so I’ll obviously have to re-apply with Yahoo, whilst finding an ID that no one’s thought of since 1995. While I understand Yahoo owns Flickr, I hope it will have the sense not to try to fix what’s not broken (though a bit more bandwidth would be nice).
Thumbs way down. Sorry, friends whose Flickrs I used to comment on…you won’t be hearing from me again. I don’t do Yahoo.
You can create a Flickr account with a Yahoo! ID or merge two existing ones and never, ever in your life look at mail.yahoo.com while still using Flickr any time you please. Whether or not you use Yahoo! Mail has no bearing on your Flickr account.
Yahoo IDs are all about collecting demographics and exploiting them for maximum marketing potential, right down to misleading ‘opt-out’ interfaces that opt you right back in to what you’re trying frantically to get the hell off you.
I haven’t decided yet whether I’ll retain my Flickr account after March 15 – my feelings about Yahoo as a company are that negative.
When Yahoo bought Flickr there was much public cringing and skepticism at the promises for major improvement. The improvements came, so I personally don’t doubt for a moment the rationale for requiring the merger.
Flickr is the new Starbucks.
Flickr is not the adventure playground it once was. The experimental, alternative vibe it had in the days before Yahoo is long gone. After the buyout was announced there was some question as to whether the new owners would kill the golden goose. It’s been a slow death, one accomplished through a thousand cuts. As jovike says above, the focus should be on the subscribers. But it isn’t. It’s because Yahoo have never had a good grasp of customer service.
